


Until I See You Again

by ringaroundtherollins



Category: World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Alternate Universe - Age Changes, Boyfriends, Friendship/Love, Lost Love, M/M, Second Chances, Sort of Canon and Sort of Not, Summer Camp, Tags May Change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-10
Updated: 2016-08-10
Packaged: 2018-08-07 20:53:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7729348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ringaroundtherollins/pseuds/ringaroundtherollins
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Adrian Neville and Dolph Ziggler fell in love as teenagers at a summer camp. Seven years later, Neville is finally moving on up to the main roster in the WWE...and there he finds a familiar face. In a tender reunion, both superstars find that while some things haven't changed, others have in a great way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Until I See You Again

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SophinaBlackwood](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SophinaBlackwood/gifts).



Hearing a rustling was common at this late hour, the gentle push of wind through green leaves on the cottonwood trees, but the rustling sound that stirred Neville awake was a bit sharper and quicker than the summer breeze.

“ _ _Psst__. __Hey. Pssst.__ You awake, kid?”

A voice he’d heard not long ago, in his dreams, spoke in his ear now, with the gentle tap of a finger on his shoulder. Neville’s eyes pulled open. Dolph Ziggler had somehow infiltrated his cabin without disturbing the other sleeping campers, and now stood over Neville’s bed. The pallid moonlight seeping through the dirty windows exposed his tired yet grinning face.

“You awake?” Dolph asked again.

“No, fast asleep,” Neville grunted, rolling onto his side.

Dolph’s hand returned to his shoulder, which even in his dazed state could give him a slight buzz. “Come on. We only have six hours.”

“Until __what__?” Neville whispered.

“Tomorrow.”

It seemed like an obtuse answer, but Neville was starting to understand. Today--yesterday, whatever time it was--had been the last day of camp. They’d have one more breakfast together in the morning, one more group activity, then depart the grounds. Picked up and taken home.

It was the last time Neville would be with Dolph.

“Come with me,” Dolph urged.

Weary as he was, Neville rolled out of bed, light on his feet so not to make too much noise. “What if we get caught?”

“We won’t.”

“Okay...and if we do?”

“You’re such a goody-goody,” Dolph snickered. “Trust me, I’ll have you back at sunrise and no one will even know you were gone.”

“Fine.” Neville just wanted to leave before anyone woke. 

His question as to how Dolph had gotten in here was answered when Dolph pried open a window in the lower half of the cabin and slinked through the narrow opening. He waved to Neville, who followed him awkwardly. The night air was sticky with humidity, and crickets and cicadas crooned their nocturnal song across the lake and in-between each cabin.

“Where are we going, exactly?” Neville asked a little ways down the path. His voice lifted to regular volume, which still wasn’t incredibly high or loud.

Not like Dolph’s. “I got a place in mind.”

Neville thwacked at an itch on his arm. “Damn mosquitos,” he mumbled.

“Should have brought your Off.”

“Guess I wasn’t prepared for a late-night expedition with you.”

“I’m full of surprises.” Dolph grinned in the dark. The path was lit by the occasional humming lamppost and the surge of moonlight, so Neville had to stay very close to Dolph so not to lose him out here. That’s what he told himself, anyway.

“Up here,” Dolph said, suddenly cutting to the right. A stretch of grass carried them to the docks where, three times this week, boats had trekked out for fishing and diving lessons in the lake. A wooden canopy was stationed over the docks. Dolph swung an arm around one of the support beams and spun his body around it like a dancer on a pole.

Neville laughed. “You’re crazy.”

“Crazy and full of surprises. What else you got?” Dolph suddenly shimmied up the beam, grabbed the edge of the canopy, and hoisted himself up. 

“Reckless,” Neville answered him, flinching as Dolph steadily recovered his balance.

“I prefer the term __daring__.” Dolph bent his finger, beckoning Neville to join him.

“Will that thing hold us both?”

“It should.”

Neville still looked uncertain.

“We’ve got crazy, full of surprises, and daring for me. What do we have for you? Goody-goody so far...should I add weenie to that list?”

Neville huffed. “Add wanker to yours.”

“Oh, come on,” Dolph backtracked. “You know I’m kidding, but...you wanna be a wrestler, right? Gotta take physical chances sometimes. Just pretend you’re hopping into the ring.”

“Alright.” Why was Dolph so bloody hard to refuse? Instead of scrambling up the splinter-ridden canopy legs, Neville approached the awning and jumped twice, getting enough air in the second leap to grab hold of the edge. He pulled himself all the way up--and over some more, executing a handstand before springing gracefully on both feet atop the canopy.

“Showoff,” Dolph teased.

“Says __you__.”

“See?” Dolph stretched his arms out. “You had nothing to worry about.”

“Better mark ‘weenie’ off that list right now.”

“I’ve got some better ways to describe you.” His voice had softened. Dolph wandered towards the edge of the canopy and took a seat, letting his feet dangle over the edge. He didn’t have to gesture again to get Neville to join him. Neville perched himself at Dolph’s side.

From here they had a full view of the lake, lustrous moonbeams floating on the still surface. With hardly any light pollution, the boys also had an unhindered outlook of the sky. The moon was gentle in her glow, the stars like a scattering of angelic dust over the inky heavens. It was absolute peace.

Neville didn’t want to leave, not any of it...or anyone here.

“Did you have a good week?” Dolph asked after prolonged silence. He leaned back on his hands.

Neville drew his knees up and rested his arms over them. “Eh. It was alright, I guess.” __'Best week of my life, actually', he thought__.

“Yeah?”

“Got a record number of bug bites.”

“Might beat your own record here tonight, sitting by the water.”

__Worth it__. “What about you?”

Dolph scratched the back of his neck. “Not too bad. Hung out with some cool kids. Made some cheesy-ass crafts. Got my ass handed to me in soccer. Oh, sorry, I mean, __football__.”

“Damn straight,” Neville laughed.

“And there was this one guy…” Dolph let the words die off, and Neville glanced his way, realizing at once Dolph was looking at him, too. “He, uh. Kind of hung around me all week.”

“What a loser.”

“Nah. He was a winner, in my book.”

Neville’s heart thumped madly. “So what about him, then? Is he cool?”

“He’s kind of a goody-goody. Not a weenie, though.” Dolph cracked an irresistible grin. “Good athlete. Nice build. Really funny. Pretty cool accent. Hands down, best guy I’ve ever met.”

Neville sucked in a breath. “At camp, or…?”

“Ever.” There it was, that unfamiliar coyness in his tone. Very unlike the Dolph Ziggler Neville had come to know and...admire this week.

“Well,” Neville pushed, also not recognizing the audacity of his own voice, “have you told him all these things? I’m sure he’d like to know. It might make him very happy.”

Dolph shook his head. He peeled a strip of wood off the canopy and flung it forward into the lake. “Not yet. I’ve got a big mouth, but every time he’s around, my throat closes up.”

Neville was feeling chills even in this humidity. “I don’t think...he’s even noticed.”

Dolph lifted his eyes to the sky. “Wanna know a secret, kid?”

How Neville adored that pet name. “Sure.”

“I’ve wanted to kiss him ever since I got here.”

Neville lowered his arms and wrapped his fingers around the canopy edge. He didn’t want to pass out, fall right off this roof and drown in the lake. __'If he’s talking about someone else, I’m throwing myself off.'__

“But,” Dolph went on, letting his head sink, “I didn’t want to freak him out, y’know, and have him dodge me all week. So I’ve kept my mouth shut, in all ways.”

How was he acting so calm about this? Neville was as bubbly as champagne, hearing these words. He had to keep pressing gently, allowing Dolph to delve as deep in emotion as he was delving. __'This is so strange'__ …

“You know, Dolph, if you were going to kiss him, tonight might be the best night to do that.”

Dolph finally looked at him again. Neville saw a twinkle in them brighter than any star they could see here tonight. “Yeah? Why’s that?”

Maybe he wasn’t as composed as he was letting on. Maybe he was a wreck, too, trying hard… “Think of it this way. If you kiss him, and he kisses you back, everything is wonderful. If he doesn’t kiss you back…” Neville replaced the thought “ _ _not that he wouldn’t__ ” with something a bit more daunting...and it shifted the mood. “Then you never have to see him again,” he finished, hating himself for fishing up that reminder. “But it might hurt less to find out than wonder ‘what if’ forever…”

He had to look away. Eyes closed, tears surfaced. How miserable falling in love could be, who knew? Something so wonderful yet daft for him, here and now; it would never work out...in seven or eight hours, Dolph Ziggler would be ripped out of his world and he’d have to learn how to recover from the first heartbreak he’d ever had… _ _'wish I’d never felt this way to start, now I have to leave, I have to get over this'__...

Dolph put his hands on both sides of Neville’s head.

Returned Neville’s stare back into his own.

__Gorgeous blue eyes…__

Dolph tipped towards Neville and clasped their lips together in a sweet kiss.

He tasted of salt and chapstick. Had he been preparing for this? Neville was squealing on the inside, a childish and silly reaction he subdued as he pushed back against Dolph. His heart was bruising his ribcage, filling and spilling and overflowing with this great love…

Dolph’s hands moved through Neville’s hair, fingers combing the dark brown mane. Like Neville had done this before or something, he worked his arms behind Dolph, securing themselves behind his shoulders. He could feel Dolph smiling. In the moment he was Dolph’s and Dolph was his and everything was alright with the world for once…

Neville’s breath drained and he had to come up for air. So dizzy that he might have passed out if the kiss hadn’t broken...he hated to do so, but he was smiling as well as he pulled away.

Dolph was beaming as if kissing Neville was his greatest accomplishment. 

“Well,” Dolph soughed, just as breathless as he’d left Neville, “now that I’m fairly certain I know how __he__ feels about __me__...I can give him this.”

Dolph drew a fine cord of tied string from his shirt pocket. Dangling from the thin material was a rust-red rock, painted blue and yellow with an offset pair of googly eyes on top.

Neville giggled. “Is this from crafts?”

“Yeah. Thought it was dumb they were making a bunch of teenagers paint pet rocks, but...I thought about you, and that soccer-- _ _football--__ team you like so much, and I thought...maybe he’ll like it.”

“This represents Newcastle?” Neville asked after a gasp.

“Yeah, can’t you tell by the colors?”

Dolph took Neville’s hand in a soft hold and dropped the necklace into his palm. Neville moved his hair out of the way and carefully pulled the necklace on. He fondled the rock as it drooped between his pectoral muscles.

“Thank you, Dolph.”

“Don’t ever forget me, kid.” Dolph’s voice broke and he hushed it as a cover.

“I won’t. I promise.”

Neville sealed that vow with another bold kiss.

* * * * *

Nothing had ever hurt more.

Dolph and Neville hugged at least four times in the parking lot before getting picked up by their families. The last kiss had been early this morning, after the boys watched the sunrise and scurried back to their respective cabins before they were caught. Tears made Neville’s eyes sparkle and Dolph caught one of the salty droplets on his thumb.

“Maybe I’ll see you again someday,” Dolph said.

Neville nodded but it didn’t numb the pain in the slightest. “Maybe.” One topic of interest that’d bound the boys as friends and fast lovers this week...wrestling. The mutual dream of someday becoming a professional wrestler, for whatever company wanted them most.

Dolph fingered the rock on Neville’s chest, then tapped his cheeks. No more kisses. Not with the parents watching...not ever again…?

“See you ‘round, kid,” Dolph said.

Neville nodded, too quickly. “Goodbye.”

And he had to leave.

His mother greeted him with a hug and questions about the week, but he faked exhaustion and pretended to sleep on the long drive home. Dolph filled his mind so much that it made his head ached. He craved the taste of salt and chapstick again.

__'First and last time I’ll ever feel that way'__ , he thought on the uncomfortable ride home...and ride ahead in a lonely life.

**Author's Note:**

> I am official Dolphnev trash, blame Sophina. Hehe.


End file.
